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Labor, Kerry to talk Iraq, Russia and G20

The Iraq conflict, Russian sanctions against Australia, climate change and metadata will be on the agenda when Bill Shorten meets US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The federal Labor leader and his foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek will hold talks with Mr Kerry on Tuesday as part of the AUSMIN ministerial discussions at Admiralty House in Sydney.

The growing crisis in Iraq will be a key topic, as will the rise of US and Australian citizens fighting with extremists in the Middle East.

The shooting down of MH17 and Russia's sanctions against Australia will also be discussed.

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"We've been appalled at the Russian Federation's bullying tactics, putting sanctions on Australia as if Australia has something to answer for when the opposite is true," Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney.

The agenda for this year's G20 summit in Brisbane will be raised, with Labor lobbying for climate change to be included.

National security, especially the retention of metadata, will also feature in Tuesday's talks.

"We've seen the federal government get itself into all sorts of bother and confusion about what it's doing with national security and monitoring on the internet," Mr Shorten said.

"We're looking forward to hearing how the United States is dealing with these matters."